Martin The Deaf Bulldog: A Deaf Puppy Can Be A Wonderful Gift

If you looked at Martin, you’d say he was a perfect English Bulldog. His muzzle is long enough that he can breathe relatively comfortably. He’s lean, he’s fit, he’s adorable.

But after they brought him home, Martin’s proud owners began to notice that their puppy didn’t seem to be responding to sounds. A trip to the vet confirmed their fears: Martin was deaf.

Their vet put them in touch with our trainer, Carol, and over the next couple of months she helped them adjust to life with a deaf dog.

What does it mean to have a deaf dog?

Cons:

Cannot hear you call.

Cannot hear commands.

Cannot hear people or other dogs approaching from behind.

Cannot hear cars or other dangers approaching from behind.

Pros:

Will never bark at the doorbell.

Motivates you to discover your inner dog trainer.

For the dog’s safety and the owner’s sanity, deaf dogs need to learn to look to their handlers for sign language commands. That means that the owners of deaf dogs need to train their puppy to a level that many owners aren’t motivated to achieve in their hearing dogs.

Thanks to his deafness, Martin’s owners discovered two amazing things:

Martin is very intelligent.

They are incredible dog trainers.

Check out this video of Martin working at 11 weeks and again at 15 weeks. While Carol was there to guide Martin’s owners through the training process, the credit goes all to them.

We know that results like these can’t be achieved without daily hard work.